Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

Here we go again. So it is boats that count, not people, apparently. That is the argument from the member for Cook: ‘It doesn’t matter how many people come, as long as they come on big boats; we want big boats, not little boats.’ That is the Morrison plan: big boats. Now we have it: it does not matter how many people come. In 1999, we had 3,722 unauthorised arrivals. Over the next two years, we had 8,459 unauthorised arrivals. That is the story from the member for Cook. So in 1999 we had 3,721 and in 2001 we had 5,516. We had 3,721 in 1999, 2,939 in 2000 and then 5,516 in 2001. So temporary protection visas were introduced and more than 8,000 people came over the next two years. And the member for Cook says, ‘But there were fewer boats.’ Well done: we got bigger boats and more people. I am not sure how temporary protection visas brought that result about.

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